Regulated Storage Tanks in Arkansas: Registration and Trust Fund

Regulated storage tanks in Arkansas fall under the Department of Energy and Environment’s Division of Environmental Quality (DEQ), which enforces rules set by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission under 8 CAR Part 80.¹ If your tank is in scope, you owe DEQ registration, ongoing leak detection, trained operators on site, proof of financial responsibility, immediate reporting of any release, and a licensed closure when the tank comes out of service. Civil penalties run up to $10,000 per day.²

Which Tanks Are Regulated

Arkansas treats aboveground and underground tanks differently, but both sit under the same rule.

An aboveground storage tank is any container, or combination of containers, above the surface holding between 1,320 and 40,000 gallons of motor fuel, distillate special fuel, or other refined petroleum products. Mobile tanks used to haul petroleum and tanks used in oil or gas production are not covered.³

An underground storage tank (UST) is any tank, including connected underground piping, where 10 percent or more of the total volume sits below ground. Several categories are carved out: farm or residential tanks of 1,100 gallons or less used noncommercially for motor fuel, tanks holding heating oil consumed on the same premises, septic tanks, regulated pipeline facilities, surface impoundments, stormwater collection systems, flow-through process tanks, and tanks inside basements or other underground spaces that actually rest on or above the floor.⁴

The small farm and residential exclusion catches many rural owners off guard. Once your tank crosses 1,100 gallons or you start using it commercially, the full UST program applies.

Registering the Tank

Before a regulated tank operates, it has to be registered with DEQ through SEEK, the state’s online system at seek.ee.arkansas.gov. All submissions, fee payments, compliance forms, and testing deadlines run through that portal, and DEQ will not process anything until the registration fee has been paid.⁵

Several notices attach to specific events:

A 7-day advance notice and an RST Notification Form before installing a new tank.
A 7-day notice before repairs or upgrades at an existing facility.
A Registration (Permit) Transfer of Ownership form filed through SEEK when the tank changes hands.
A 30-day notice for certain other facility changes.

Federal rules layer on top. Under 40 CFR 280.22, UST owners submit EPA Form 7530-1 within 30 days of bringing a tank into use, and anyone assuming ownership of an existing regulated UST files a separate ownership-change form within 30 days.⁶ DEQ is the implementing agency for those federal filings in Arkansas. A tank stays “in use” for registration and fee purposes until it has been permanently closed and DEQ has received written notice of the status change.

Leak Detection and Secondary Containment

UST systems have to combine automatic monitoring with periodic testing. Automatic tank gauging, an internal release detection method, must run at least once every 30 days to meet monthly monitoring requirements.⁷

Pressurized piping has two tiers of rules based on install date. Every automatic line leak detector must either shut off flow, restrict flow, or trigger an audible or visual alarm. Piping installed on or before April 11, 2016, needs either annual line testing or monthly monitoring. Piping installed or replaced after that date must have secondary containment with interstitial monitoring, which is the stricter standard.⁷

Secondary containment means two physical barriers between the stored substance and the surrounding soil and groundwater: an inner wall and an outer barrier, with a monitored interstitial space between them. A leak in the inner wall gets caught by the outer barrier, and the interstitial monitor sees it before anything reaches the environment. For newer piping, this double-wall design is mandatory.

Certified Operators on Site

Every UST facility in Arkansas must designate at least one certified operator in each of three classes:

Class A: an owner or employee with primary responsibility to operate and maintain the UST system.
Class B: an owner or employee handling daily operations and recordkeeping.
Class C: an employee responsible for initiating emergency response when an alarm or other emergency indicator appears.

Class A and B operators earn certification through an approved exam or a training program that ends in one. Class C operators can be certified through an approved training course or by training delivered directly by a certified Class A or B operator at the facility.⁸

When a Release Happens

The reporting clock is 24 hours. On discovering or confirming a release, the responsible party must notify DEQ by phone or email within that window, with written follow-up to DEQ within three business days of the initial verbal notice.⁹ The owner or operator also has to move immediately to stop further release and address any fire, explosion, or vapor hazard.

What follows is the federal corrective action framework under 40 CFR Part 280, Subpart F:

Initial response within 24 hours: stop the release, remove safety hazards, notify DEQ.
Initial abatement: pull remaining product from the tank system, inspect the release, prevent migration, and start checking for free product floating on groundwater.
Initial site characterization within 45 days: a report to DEQ on the release, surrounding populations, water quality, nearby wells, and subsurface conditions.
Free product recovery: if liquid petroleum is on the water table, remove it to the maximum extent practicable, as determined by DEQ.
Site assessment: if DEQ finds the release environmentally significant, a full investigation of affected soils and dissolved groundwater contamination.
Corrective action plan: geology, hydrology, protective strategy, cleanup goals, schedule.

DEQ can compress the sequence or direct the owner to jump ahead based on the severity of the release.¹⁰ A small release from a single tank may resolve after site characterization; a large or long-standing one can require years of monitoring and remediation.

Financial Responsibility and the Trust Fund

Every UST owner and operator must show they have the money to cover corrective action and third-party claims. Under federal rules, petroleum producers, refiners, and marketers need $1 million per occurrence, with either $1 million aggregate (100 or fewer tanks) or $2 million (more than 100). Nonmarketers are rated by monthly throughput.¹¹

Owners can meet the requirement through commercial insurance, self-insurance using a financial test, corporate guarantees, surety bonds, letters of credit, or a third-party trust fund. Local governments get four additional options, including a bond rating test and a dedicated fund.¹²

In practice, most Arkansas UST owners rely on the state Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund instead of private insurance.¹² Authorized under Arkansas Code 8-7-901 et seq., the fund reimburses eligible owners for corrective action costs and pays third-party damages from accidental releases at qualified tanks.

Eligibility has conditions. Each petroleum tank must be registered, annual storage tank fees must be paid for every tank until it is permanently closed, the owner must keep separate financial responsibility of $7,500 per occurrence for third-party claims through insurance, a surety bond, a letter of credit, or another approved mechanism, and the owner must certify substantial compliance with storage tank regulations.¹³

The fund does not pay for tank retrofitting or replacement, and it does not cover attorney’s fees. In emergencies where a release poses an imminent hazard, the DEQ director can authorize up to $50,000 in emergency disbursements without waiting for the advisory committee.¹⁴ Aboveground tank owners can opt in or opt out through a SEEK form.

Penalties and Enforcement

DEQ can assess a civil penalty of up to $10,000 per day for any violation of a storage tank rule, regulation, permit, license, or order. For UST operating violations, the penalty runs up to $10,000 per day per violation, so multiple findings at one facility stack fast.²

DEQ’s Regulated Storage Tanks office inspects facilities and maintains a “red-tagged” list of serious noncompliance sites.⁵ Inspectors who find violations can issue a legally binding corrective order; ignoring it opens the door to civil lawsuits or criminal charges, especially where environmental harm has occurred. The recurring triggers are lapsed leak detection, missed release-reporting deadlines, operating without proper registration, and letting financial responsibility drop.

Closing a Tank

Only a person licensed by DEQ, or someone who employs a licensed individual, can perform a tank closure in Arkansas. That licensed individual has to be physically present at each critical juncture, which includes:

Purging or inerting vapors from the tank
Removing and properly disposing of tank contents
Excavating the tank system
Testing or monitoring for current or previous leakage
Physically removing the tank and piping
Assessing the surrounding site for contamination

The tank stays “in use” for registration and fee purposes until closure is properly completed and DEQ has received written notice.¹⁵ Skipping steps risks a penalty now and can leave you on the hook for contamination found later, after you assumed the tank was behind you.

1
Legal Information Institute. Arkansas Code 118-01-24 – Rule 12 Storage Tanks
2
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 8-7-806 – Penalties – Enforcement
3
Department of Energy and Environment. 8 CAR 80 – Storage Tank Rules
4
Justia Law. Arkansas Code Title 8 Chapter 7 Subchapter 8 – Section 8-7-801
5
Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Regulated Storage Tanks
6
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Notification Forms for Underground Storage Tanks
7
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Release Detection for Underground Storage Tanks (USTs) – Introduction
8
Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. UST Operator Training – Regulated Storage Tanks
9
Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Technical – Regulated Storage Tanks
10
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 280 – Technical Standards and Corrective Action
11
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. UST Financial Responsibility
12
Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment. Registration, Fees, and Financial Assurance
13
Code of Arkansas Rules. 8 CAR 80-402 – Trust Fund Eligibility
14
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 8-7-905 – Petroleum Storage Tank Trust Fund
15
Arkansas Secretary of State. APC&EC Rule 12 – Storage Tanks